BREAKTHROUGH! US Biotech Experts Create Portable Smartphone Lab That Can Diagnose Covid-19 Coronavirus And Other Viruses like HIV in Seconds

Source: Thailand Medical News Feb 12, 2020 4 months ago

In the midst of theCovid-19 coronavirusepidemic a couple of innovative bio engineers and medical doctors from the University of Cincinnati have created a tiny portable lab that plugs into any smartphone, connecting it automatically to a doctor’s office through a custom app they developed.

The diagnostic “lab”, which is the size of a credit card, can diagnose infectious diseases such as the Covid-19 coronavirus, HIV, malaria, or Lyme disease or countless other viruses and bacteria strains.

All a patient need to do is simply puts a single-use plastic lab chip into his or her mouth then plugs that into a slot in the box to test the saliva.

UC professor Chong Ahn developed a portable lab that plugs into your smartphone to diagnose diseases
like malaria or coronavirus. The results are transmitted to your doctor over a custom app UC developed.
Credit: Joseph Fuqua II/UC Creative Services

The diagnostic medical device automatically transmits results to the patient’s doctor through a custom app UC created for nearly instant results.

University of Cincinnati Professor Chong Ahn and his research team used the smartphone medical device to test for malaria. But the device could be used for smart point of care testing for countless chronic or infectious diseases or even to measure hormones related to stress.

Professor Chong Ahn told Thailand Medical News, “Right now it takes several hours or even days to diagnose in a lab, even when people are showing symptoms. The disease can spread,”

The research study and development was published in the Nature journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering.

The research team created a novel lab chip that uses natural capillary action, the tendency for a liquid to adhere to a surface, to draw a sample down two channels called a “microchannel capillary flow assay.” One channel mixes the sample with freeze-dried detection antibodies. The other contains a freeze-dried luminescent material to read the results when the split samples combine again on three sensors.

Professor Ahn said the medical device is accurate, simple to use and inexpensive.

Professor Ahn added, “The performance is comparable to laboratory tests. The cost is cheaper. And it’s user-friendly. We wanted to make it simple so anyone could use it without training or support.”

University of Cincinnati doctoral student Dr Sthitodhi Ghosh, the study’s lead author, said the biggest advancement in the device is in the novel design of its tiny channels that naturally draw the sample through the sensor arrays using capillary flow. Professor Ahn is Ghosh’s Ph.D. advisor.

Dr Ghosh added, “The entire test takes place on the chip automatically. You don’t have to do anything. This is the future of personal healthcare.”

The medical device has a variety of applications for diagnosing or monitoring viruses or other diseases, and even hormone levels.

The research team is already working with other researchers and also diagnostic companies to get the device rolled out by a fortnight for usage in the current coronavirusepidemic.

The patented device is already in the process of getting all necessary regulatory issues cleared both in Europe and the US.